 "Photo: Erika Rich")
Members of anti-death-penalty groups stood outside the Capitol and chanted, "They said death row; we say hell no!" shortly after U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia granted Jeffrey Wood an indefinite stay of execution Thursday.
In 1997, a jury convicted Wood as an accomplice in the murder of a convenience store clerk and sentenced him to death. Under the controversial Texas Law of Parties, individuals may be held responsible for a committed offense if they intended to promote or assist the crime.
Scott Sullivan, one of Wood's attorneys, said the judge issued a stay to determine if Wood is mentally ill or competent. Sullivan said Wood should not be executed because psychologists diagnosed him with emotional and psychological impairments. The state decided not to appeal the stay of execution, and officials transported Wood from Huntsville back to death row in Livingston, Texas.
On the morning of Jan. 2, 1996, Wood waited in a car outside a Gold Star Texaco convenience store in Kerrville while his friend, Daniel Reneau, robbed the store and shot clerk Kris Keeran in the head. After the shooting, Wood helped Reneau carry away the safe, cash drawer and videotape recorder.
Reneau was also sentenced to death and executed in 2002.
Sullivan and Jared Tyler, also one of Wood's attorneys, submitted a clemency petition to Gov. Rick Perry and the members of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles asking them to commute Wood's sentence to life imprisonment. In the petition, they contended that Wood shares responsibility for what happened but that no man deserves to die for another man's act.
Dr. James Grigson, a psychiatrist called by the state, testified at the trial that Wood represents a threat to society and might commit future acts of violence.
Members of the Texas Moratorium Network, a grassroots organization supporting a moratorium on executions in Texas, and the Campaign to End the Death Penalty helped to organize the protest in front of the Capitol.
"We are happy that we have more time to make the case that Jeff Wood does not deserve to be executed because he has mental illnesses and because he did not kill anyone," said Scott Cobb, president of the moratorium network.
Sullivan said he expects a hearing on Wood's competence to be scheduled sometime in February or March.
See "Saving Jeff Wood" under Opinion for more.
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